Lone Jack Trail — Owen Laukkanen

Could ex-con Mason Burke be a killer? When an athlete's body is found in Deception Cove, Marine veteran Jess Winslow begins to wonder if her friend is capable of murder.

A body washes up on the shore near Deception Cove. It belongs to "Bad" Brock Boyd, a disgraced former professional athlete from Makah County who recently finished a prison sentence for dogfighting. Marine veteran Jess Winslow, now a trainee deputy in Deception Cove, is assigned to help investigate the suspicious death. But when it comes out that her friend, ex-convict Mason Burke, had a run-in with the victim on the day of his death, she's forced to question whether everything she thinks she knows about Burke is wrong.

As prime suspect in the case, Burke is forced to go on the run. Jess is torn between the man she could love and the facts of the case, which seem to point squarely at him.